


If I Fall

by canufeelthemagictonight



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Brainwashing, Character Death, Danger, Dark, Desperation, Developing Friendships, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Ghosts, Goodbyes, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Male-Female Friendship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partnership, Possession, Reunions, Sacrifice, Scary, Self-Sacrifice, Tearjerker, Tears, Tension, Tragedy, Worry, scavenger hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2019-08-02 21:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16313351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canufeelthemagictonight/pseuds/canufeelthemagictonight
Summary: "Four must be selected by vote to undertake our challenge," says Robert in a monotone voice. "They will be paired up into groups of two."Amelia finishes what he started. "Whichever pair loses must take the Lover's Leap, as we once did. Then, and only then, the artifacts will be cleansed, and our souls will be able to rest in peace."The s3 Final Five face a partner challenge, but not the traditional type of partner challenge. Two pairs of people must go up against each other. Only one pair will survive. The other pair must die together.What comes next is an unexpected yet heartbreaking tragedy.An Escape the Night AU.





	1. Written in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group learns the horrifying truth about what the next death challenge entails.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire thing was inspired by an idea I had ("what if two people went up against another two people? what would happen?"), and, with some encouragement from my friends, I decided to turn it into a fic. Sorry if it is sad.

They call it the "Lover's Leap."

It's a small balcony on the third (and top) floor of the tallest building in Everlock. According to legend, there once was a couple who dreamed of being together, but they were torn apart by the judging eyes of society. In response to this, the couple used the Lover's Leap to take their own lives. No one has been allowed up there since.

Until tonight.

Tonight, five YouTubers huddle together on the Lover's Leap, their faces bathed in the pale silver light of the moon. Matthew Patrick has an arm around Rosanna Pansino's trembling shoulders, while Manny Mua and Nikita Dragun hold hands. Joey Graceffa stands apart from the other four, his hands in his pockets, looking and feeling vaguely out of place. Mortimer and Calliope lurk in the background, wearing identical expressions of worry. In front of the group are the ghosts of Robert and Amelia, the lovers who killed themselves at this very spot. Each ghost holds an artifact. The two match perfectly.

"Four must be selected by vote to undertake our challenge," says Robert in a monotone voice. "They will be paired up into groups of two."

Amelia finishes what he started. "Whichever pair loses must take the Lover's Leap, as we once did. Then, and only then, the artifacts will be cleansed, and our souls will be able to rest in peace."

With that, they glide away, leaving seven shocked hearts in their wake.

It's Manny who breaks the silence. "Did that ghost bitch just say that _two_ of us are gonna die?" he gasps. "That's crazy!"

"They can't _really_ do that," whimpers Rosanna. "Can they?"

"I mean, they _do_ have two artifacts, so I _guess_ it makes sense that two of us have to die for them," grumbles Matt, who is _clearly_ not happy with the couple's instructions.

Nikita scowls. _"Fuck_ this game," she proclaims bitterly.

Joey's inclined to agree with her. This third night has been nothing but twist after twist. They've had the rug pulled out from under them more times than he can count. Heck, the memory of Safiya's unfair demise is still fresh in all of their minds. Now, _two_ of them have to die? At the _same_ time?

He wants none of it.

But they have no choice. They _have_ to free those poor people from the Carnival Master's clutches. They _have_ to cleanse the final two artifacts. They _have_ to save Everlock. If they don't, they'll _all_ run out of time.

So he sighs, slumps, and plays along. "All right, Calliope." He turns to their mystical assistant. "How is this going to work?"

Calliope already has the cards prepared. Apparently, this _particular_ vote will happen right here, on the Lover's Leap, where two among the five are doomed to die. "This time," she says sadly, "each of you will select the ticket with the face of the person that you think should _not_ be a part of this challenge. I will then shuffle and draw one. That person will be exempt. The rest of you..." She can't even finish her sentence without choking back a sob. "Please, discuss among yourselves."

Joey turns to face the others. "So...uh...guys..." He searches his brain for the right thing to say, but finds nothing.

"I'm voting for myself," snaps Nikita. "I'm _not_ jumping off a goddamn balcony."

"Same," Manny concurs.

Matt shrugs. "Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious that we're all gonna try and save our own lives. I say we just get it over with."

Rosanna nods in agreement. The little Jet Setter is noticeably making an effort to be brave, but there are scattered tears in her big brown eyes. She's _not_ taking this well. Joey doesn't blame her.

"Calliope," Joey requests, "can you please just put one of each of our names in?"

"If that's what you wish," replies Calliope, who is struggling to regain her composure.

Joey takes a deep breath and tries his hardest not to look at the nearby ledge. "That's what we wish."

Calliope picks up a Troublemaker card and shows it to the group. She does the same with a Detective card, followed by a Record Producer card. When she displays a Savant card, Joey crosses his fingers behind his back, hoping, for the first time ever, that his card is drawn. Finally, a Jet Setter card is added to the pile, and Rosanna can't hold it in anymore. She cries quietly. Matt does his best to comfort her, but there is no true comfort in a place like this.

"I will now shuffle and draw one," recites Calliope, like a child rattling off a memorized poem to their class.

"Please be on my side for _once!"_ exclaims Nikita.

"Omigod." Manny's hands are locked together in prayer. "Please, please, please..."

Rosanna's still crying. Matt murmurs "it's okay, Ro, you're gonna be fine" as Calliope selects a card from the pile.

"The person _not_ going into the challenge is..."

Joey thinks of the couple they're trying to save. Robert and Amelia have done nothing to hurt the group over the course of the past hour. If anything, they're prisoners of the Carnival Master, just like the YouTubers are. They, too, are desperate for a way out. It seems only fair to give it to them, even if it means saying goodbye to two of their friends.

"The Savant."

 _I got lucky again,_ is Joey's first thought, followed immediately by _oh, God, we're sending in the Mean Girls and the Boy Scouts. This_ can't _end well._

Matt pulls Rosanna close to his chest, and they cling to each other with the desperation of two people who don't want to say goodbye. Joey thinks he can hear Matt say something along the lines of "I won't let them," but the rest is unintelligible. Meanwhile, Nikita shouts a string of curses at the moon, which causes a frightened Manny to instinctively squeeze her hand. Fire blazes in the Troublemaker's eyes as she squeezes a promise back to him.

"It is now time for the rest of you to find your partners," says Calliope. "Nikita, if you would—"

"I pick Manny!" interrupts Nikita.

Calliope winces. "I'm afraid that's not how it works."

"What do you _mean,_ 'that's not how it works?'" This outburst, surprisingly enough, does _not_ come from Nikita, but from Matt, who's holding Rosanna as if the world will end if he lets her go. "Shouldn't we be allowed to choose our own partners?"

"Not this time." Calliope extends a stack of three cards to a _very_ annoyed Nikita. "Please, take one." There's heartache in her voice.

Nikita frowns, rolls her eyes, steps forward, and reaches for the pile. As her perfect nails close themselves around a card, silence envelops the area. Joey can't help but wonder who fate will pick for her. He knows how much she loves Manny, and vice versa, as well as how much Matt and Rosanna love each other, so he hopes for all their sakes that those are the pairings they end up with. He can't _stand_ the thought of separating two wonderful friendships in such a cruel way. He's done enough damage already.

All eyes are on Nikita as she turns her new card over and reveals her partner's face to the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So begins another adventure! What do you guys think will happen next? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.


	2. Farewell Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The partners are decided. The challenge begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was _gonna_ be three parts, but now, I'm planning _four_ parts. RIP me.

The Detective's face is in the Troublemaker's hands.

"Matt and Nikita," says Mortimer with a shrug, "it looks like you guys are partners."

Matt can't breathe. He feels as if his entire world is shutting down around him. _I'm with Nikita?_ Deep down, he knows that she's a good person at heart, but he can't forget the way she talked about Safiya an hour ago. He isn't sure if he's ready to work with her, _especially_ in a _death_ challenge of all things.

On top of that, this means that he and Rosanna are doomed. Either _he_ will take the Lover's Leap, or _she_ will.

The thought breaks his heart.

Nikita drops his card as if it's on fire. "Dammit." But she goes to stand next to him anyway.

"I guess that means we're together," says Rosanna in a small voice, looking up at Manny with trusting but teary eyes.

The Record Producer takes the Jet Setter's hand, but there's sorrow on his face as he steals a glance at Nikita and Matt. "Okay, Ro," he murmurs. "I'll help you as much as I can."

"And I'll do the same for you," says Matt to Nikita, even though the words feel hollow in his mouth.

"If you four could follow me, please," sighs Calliope as she heads back inside the building. "Joey, you stay here with Mortimer."

Nikita snorts. "Yeah, Joey. Stay here." There's a thousand years' worth of anger in her voice. "Go stare at a bridge again. You're good at that."

Before Joey can respond, the rest of the group leaves him and Mortimer on the Lover's Leap.

Inside the building, the ghosts of Amelia and Robert wait for them. Matt wonders what the hell drove them to take such a drastic step. All that note said was that they were "torn apart by the judging eyes of society," but why did society judge them? They're both white. They're both straight. They both appear to be part of the same social class. What did Everlock have against these people?

 _And what does Everlock have against me?_ is his follow-up thought. _First, it killed me. Then, after I came back, it killed Safiya. Now, it's about to try and kill me again, and if I survive, it'll kill Ro. Why does this town hate me so much?_

"Thank you all for coming," says Amelia. "We apologize in advance for what's about to happen."

"Apology _not_ accepted, bitch," snaps Nikita.

Rosanna frowns at the blonde. "Nikita! Be nice!"

Robert picks up the instructions as if neither Nikita nor Rosanna said a word. "One pair shall be taken to the first floor of this building, and the other pair shall be taken to the second floor. Your job is to find all six of the small paper hearts hidden throughout your floor. They look like this." He gestures to his lover, who shows a pink heart with an A on it to the group. "Once you and your partner have successfully found all six hearts, you are to use the letters written on the hearts to spell out one of our names."

"So it's like the Benjamin thing all over again," realizes Rosanna.

Matt raises an eyebrow. "The Benjamin thing?"

"The challenge I did with Teala," she replies. "We had to use tiles to find his name, and it was Benjamin."

Next to her, Manny bites his lip. "Oh, so you've done this before." He seems reassured and worried all at once. "That's good."

"Whichever pair is the first to successfully write a name in hearts will be set free from our curse," finishes Amelia. "The losing pair, unfortunately, will take the Lover's Leap."

"What if they refuse?" Matt asks. He _has_ to know.

Amelia turns to him, a forlorn look in her gray eyes. "They won't refuse."

After some discussion, it's agreed that Matt and Nikita will search the first floor for hearts, while Manny and Rosanna will take the second floor. The four of them travel via elevator, just like in the Funhouse. Matt can hear his friends' heavy breathing as the elevator descends. He remembers his own death. He reminds himself that he _cannot_ go back to the World Between Worlds.

But does he have the stomach to send his best friend there in his place?

"Remember what I said last time," Nikita orders Manny, trying and failing to disguise the pain in her voice as she gives her best friend a farewell hug. "I'm gonna give it my all to win, so you _better_ give it your all as well. Don't go easy on me."

Manny shakes his head and chuckles affectionately. "Bitch, since when have I _ever_ gone easy on you?"

Their conversation continues at a volume that's too soft for Matt to hear.

"That goes for you too, Ro," Matt blurts out, because he _knows_ Rosanna, and he _knows_ her golden heart, and he's _so,_ so scared that she'll do something stupid. "Do your best." He embraces her one last time. "I love you."

"I love you too, Matt," Rosanna almost sobs.

 _Please, God,_ Matt prays as he holds her close, _let there be a miracle._

Once she leaves Matt's arms, Rosanna offers a goodbye to Nikita, who dignifies the small brunette with a pat on the shoulder. "You're all right, short stuff." This is Nikita's way of expressing what's hidden in her heart.

"Bye, Matt," says Manny. He looks like he's trying to decide what to say, but he eventually settles with a simple "Good luck out there."

Matt shakes his hand. "You too."

The elevator opens, revealing the second floor, along with Amelia. Manny and Rosanna take their leave. Just as the elevator doors close, Rosanna waves, and Matt, ignoring his screaming heart, waves back.

Soon, Matt's alone in the elevator with an uncharacteristically somber Nikita Dragun. A full minute passes before Nikita speaks. "We're partners now." Her voice is defeated yet determined at the same time. "And I know you're still mad at me about the Safiya thing, but the fact is, we don't have time to fight anymore. We _gotta_ focus on surviving this shit. Nothing else. Understand?"

"I understand, but..." Matt stares miserably at his shoes. "What about Ro?"

"You _can't_ think about her. Trust me. I've done this before. If you let yourself worry about Ro or Manny or anyone else, it's only gonna slow you down. You don't wanna die again, do you?"

"No."

"Well, I don't wanna die, either. That's why we gotta do this." As the elevator shudders to a stop, Nikita wipes her eyes and grits her teeth. "We gotta save ourselves before we can save anyone else." Of course, they both know that if they win, their chances of saving Rosanna and Manny from the Lover's Leap are slim to none, but this awful truth remains unspoken.

Matt's fingers brush against his Detective badge. "Mm-hm." He tries to chase Rosanna out of his mind in order to focus on the upcoming challenge, but she's still there, like a little girl playing hide-and-seek in his memories.

Nikita and Matt step off the elevator onto the first floor. Robert is there to greet them. "Are you ready?" he asks.

"Yeah," Matt replies, even though he's never felt less ready in his life.

"When this is over," Nikita growls at the ghost, "you'll _pay_ for what you've done."

Robert doesn't seem fazed by Nikita's threat. Matt gets the feeling that he and Amelia have heard worse. "Find the hearts," the spirit pleads softly. "Find Amelia's name."

He snaps his fingers, and the challenge begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think will happen next? ;)


	3. Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the challenge kicks off in earnest, Rosanna considers the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Manny and Rosanna: one of the most underrated friendships of s3.

"Find the hearts," Amelia pleads softly. "Find Robert's name."

She snaps her fingers, and the challenge begins.

The first thing Rosanna does is dive into a nearby couch, digging through its cushions like a starving girl searching for food. _Gotta look in places you wouldn't expect,_ she tells herself. _They're here somewhere. I know they are. Manny and I will find the hearts, and then..._ She feels sick to her stomach. _Matt and Nikita will kill themselves._

Honestly, that sounds like the worst prize in the world.

_I lost Matt once. I don't wanna lose him again!_

"That's good, Ro." Manny smiles at his partner, but his smile looks like something he applied during a makeup tutorial. "Keep it up. I'm gonna go check the next room." He runs away.

Rosanna finds her first heart within the cushions. It has a O on it. She smooths out the creases against her periwinkle dress, and then, she puts it on a nearby table. Her mind returns to the Man with No Name's lair. There, too, she had to find letters, and she found them, but Teala was the price she had to pay. Are Matt and Nikita the new Tealas? Will she have to watch them die?

 _Don't think about it,_ she orders her mind. _Matt wouldn't want you to think about it._ But she can't help it. She loves him (and Nikita, too, but mostly him) too much _not_ to think about it.

Manny returns with their second heart. "That's two," he murmurs as he places his T with Rosanna's O. "Four more. We just gotta keep going, okay? We just gotta keep going."

"I know," Rosanna whimpers.

The two of them resume their search, but Rosanna feels like she's going to burst into pieces any moment now. All she can think about is the way Matt's voice rises in pitch whenever he's scared of something, and the warmth of his hugs, and the light in his smile, and _oh, God, is this_ really _how it's going to end for us? If I live, how am I supposed to tell Steph, or his parents, or everyone else who loves him?_ Everything is blurry with impulsive grief. _How am I supposed to live with myself if my best friend dies because of me?_

"How did you do it?" she finally asks.

Manny looks up from the desk he's examining. "Do what?"

"Go against Nikita," she replies. "In the Funhouse." She doesn't like to think about the Funhouse, because that's what killed Safiya, but she feels like she has to know what kept Manny going in that terrible place.

"I just..." He bites his lip. "I pretended like we were just playing. Like no one was really gonna die, and it was all just a bet, and Nikita was just gonna have to wear a potato sack on her head if she lost."

Rosanna giggles despite herself. "A potato sack? She'd look silly!"

"That was the point," he chuckles ruefully. "Silly's better than dead."

 _Okay._ Rosanna closes her eyes. _You heard him. Matt and Nikita are_ not _gonna kill themselves if Manny and I win this challenge. They're just gonna wear potato sacks on their heads. They're gonna be fine._ She drums the words into her head in an effort to recognize them as facts. _We're all gonna be fine._

"Here's an B," says Manny, placing it with the O and the T.

"Bot." Rosanna raises an eyebrow. "Like a robot."

"Did robots exist in the 70s?"

"I don't know."

Their conversation feels so unnervingly casual, as if they're not at risk of suicide. Rosanna's thoughts travel back to the time she and Manny did the Not My Arms Makeup Challenge for a collab. Sure, they both ended up with messy makeup jobs, but they had fun. _This_ collab is no fun at all...and yet, somehow, enduring a death challenge as a duo isn't _quite_ as scary as enduring one alone.

If it was just her against Matt, without the others, would she still fight to win? Or would she give up? She doesn't know. She doubts she'll ever know.

"How far along do you think Matt and Nikita are?" she wonders aloud.

Manny says "doesn't matter" in a voice that clearly means _please let's not talk about it._

So, in the end, they don't. They hunt for letters on hearts and try to ignore the sound of their own hearts breaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I took so long to update this fic. Life and other projects got in the way. But it's here now! How do you guys think it's gonna end?


	4. If You're Reading This, It's Too Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The challenge is both won and lost...but whose lives are at stake?

Matt and Nikita have already found five out of the six hearts. It's almost over. They've almost won.

_Ro and Manny are almost gone._

Matt sinks to his aching knees in front of a bookshelf, his eyes closed, his hands trembling. He doesn't want to do this. He's never wanted to do anything less than he wants to do this. Surviving this challenge will guarantee his ticket home, but if two lives are what it takes to live, is it _really_ worth it? _Especially_ if one of those lives belongs to the person he swore to protect?

 _I'm supposed to be dead,_ he remembers. _If it hadn't been for my friends, I'd be rotting outside the arcade, and none of this would matter._ A part of him wishes he _hadn't_ been brought back. What gave _him_ the right to receive the second chance that so many of his friends were denied?

Nikita is currently investigating the room next door to this one. The partners haven't spoken a word to each other since the challenge began, and for good reason, seeing as it's better to focus on the challenge than it is to carry on a conversation. Besides, Matt doesn't know what they have to talk about at this point.

His fingers brush against paper.

_Wait..._

He pulls the sixth and final heart out from between two books on the bookshelf. It's an A. Of course it is. A for Amelia. A to start the alphabet. A to end the war.

If he writes Amelia's name in hearts, he and Nikita will live. He _knows_ this. But there's a part of him—and he isn't sure if it's his head, his heart, or something else entirely—that wants to rip the A into a thousand paper pieces, throw it in the trash, and pretend that he never found it at all. Yeah, he'd die if he did that, but he'd save Rosanna and Manny. He wouldn't have to live with their deaths on his conscience.

For half a second, he considers it.

But then, Nikita blazes into the room like pink flames from an out-of-control wildfire. "Nothing," she half-sighs-half-spits. "Any luck over here?"

The heart with the A on it crinkles in Matt's grasp. He takes note of the desperate determination that lights up his partner's features, and he recalls the intense will to live that's powered Nikita throughout this terrible night. If he throws the challenge, she'll fall along with him, cursing his name with a vengeance on her way to the dusty ground. On top of that, both their families _(Steph, think about Steph, don't leave her and Ollie alone)_ would be absolutely _crushed_ to hear the news.

He can't do that to any of them.

_I'm sorry, Ro. I'll do my best to save you._

"Actually, yeah." He holds up the A. "I found the last heart. We won."

"Great." Nikita's voice is victorious and devastated at the same time.

Matt uses their six hearts to spell Amelia's name. Once the deed is done, he wraps his right arm around Nikita's shoulders without even taking a minute to think about it. She makes no effort to push him away.

Graceful cursive sentences light up the opposite wall. Matt and Nikita read them aloud, but it isn't until they're halfway done that Matt truly understands what they're reading.

_To our friends and family, or whoever finds this note,_

_By the time you read this, we will be standing on the precipice of death itself, for the two of us have made the decision to take our own lives. Do not blame yourselves. It is not your fault. It is the fault of the Carnival Master and all his disgusting minions. They have hunted us, tormented us, and corrupted our beautiful town, and we know now that our only escape is death._

_There is no time to cry for our loss. Instead, you must fight this evil and use your memories of us to bring down the Carnival Master once and for all. Know this: we will always be with you. We love you. Do not forget us. Do not let us die in vain._

_Signed,_  
_Amelia and Robert_

As Matt and Nikita finish reading Robert and Amelia's suicide note, Amelia's signature changes before their eyes. Within seconds, they are no longer staring at her elegant penmanship. Instead, it's signed as _Ro,_ complete with a heart next to the curly R, just the way Rosanna writes when she's providing autographs to her fans.

Matt's jaw drops. "How…" Tears fog up his sunglasses. "How do they have her signature? What is this?" An awful thought pops into his head, and his blood runs cold. "What are they doing to her?!?"

Robert's name begins to change as well.

“No," sobs Nikita. "No."

But _Robert_ transforms into _Manny,_ and Matt realizes that his friends have somehow signed their own death sentence.

The next thing he knows, he's being pulled into the open elevator by a suddenly frantic Nikita. She's screaming, but he can't make out any coherent words. All he can think is _they're gonna jump, Ro and Manny are gonna jump, I have to find them, stop them, save them,_ please—

It takes forever to reach the second floor. When the elevator door finally opens, Rosanna and Manny step inside, holding hands, wearing identical blank expressions on their too-pale faces.

"Ro?" Matt grabs the little Jet Setter by her fluffy coat sleeves. "Ro, are you okay?"

She doesn't answer.

"Ro! Talk to me! _Ro!"_

Rosanna is silent. So, despite Nikita's hysterical cries, is Manny. The two condemned YouTubers stare straight ahead through glazed, spiraled eyes, as if Matt and Nikita aren't even there.

Nikita rounds on Matt. "What the hell is wrong with them?"

_"What if they refuse?"_

_"They won’t refuse."_

"I think…" Matt doesn't think. He _knows._ "Nikita, they've been brainwashed. It must've happened after they lost the challenge."

"Well, how do we fix it?"

"I don’t _know!"_

Matt and Nikita spend the rest of the elevator ride trying everything they can think of to snap Rosanna and Manny out of their trance. They pull at their clothes. They scream in their faces. They slap them. They hug them. They cry that they love them. But nothing works. Rosanna and Manny give zero acknowledgement that they hear or see anything that's happening.

"Not like this," Nikita keeps repeating. "Dammit, Manny, wake _up…"_

 _I can't let them go,_ thinks Matt wildly. _No matter what, they_ cannot _die this way._

They arrive at the Lover's Leap. Joey, Calliope, and Mortimer stand together on one side, while Robert and Amelia stand on the other. The ghostly couple are hand-in-hand, just like Rosanna and Manny, and their expressions are the picture of synchronized regret.

Joey gulps, clearly unnerved at what he's seeing. "Guys...?"

Rosanna and Manny, their hands still clenched in each other's, robotically take a step towards the edge of the Lover's Leap.

Matt snaps. He screams Rosanna's name, lunges forward, grabs her, and tackles her to the ground in a flurry of orange and green. Her small size works in his favor, allowing him to easily pin her down despite her attempts to fight him off of her. "Ro, don't!" He feels bad about resorting to violence, but if it can save her from this twisted fate, it has to be done. "Snap out of it, Ro, you _gotta_ wake up, I _love_ you, _please_ don't do this..."

Rosanna struggles, flails, and shrieks in unintelligible tones that are somehow both emotionless and frenzied. Matt can vaguely hear the name "Safiya" amid the nonsense.

From somewhere close by, Nikita is also shrieking. "No! Stop! Goddammit, Joey, don't just _stand_ there, _help_ me!" Then, at a pitch that almost makes Matt's eardrums bleed, _"Manny!"_

"What's going on?" Joey shouts. "What happened? What did you do?"

Matt closes his eyes, tightens his grip on Rosanna, and prays for a way to cheat death one more time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are Ro and Manny doomed? Or will a miracle happen to save them? Find out in the next chapter.


	5. A Split-Second Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Nikita won the challenge. Now, Manny and Rosanna are _literally_ about to walk off the edge. Is there still a way to save them? Time to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, this fic gets longer all the time. Or maybe I just like cliffhangers too much.

Joey has no idea what's going on, which is honestly par for the course at this point.

He grabs Manny's left arm while Nikita takes his right, but neither of them are particularly strong individuals, so their combined strength is not enough to prevent the mesmerized makeup artist from taking another step forward. "Mortimer! Calliope!" Although Joey's voice is supposed to be a shout, it comes out as more of a sniffling hiccup. "Get over here and help us!"

The two assistants rush to their aid. Meanwhile, Matt is still doing his best to keep Rosanna pinned, but it's clear that he can only hold her down for so long.

"What did you do?" Joey repeats his desperate question to Robert and Amelia. "What the hell did you do?"

Robert presses his shaking hands against his mouth in an frighteningly familiar gesture. "Omigod." There's more life in his tone than there was before. "I didn't...we didn't...this wasn't supposed to..."

"We don't want to hurt anyone," sobs Amelia, whose tears remind Joey of Rosanna's.

When Matt speaks, he sounds more like a Bad Cop than a Detective. "Then why did you?"

"We had no choice," Robert explains. "We were corrupted. Both of us. I was trying to study the artifacts for science, and something went wrong, and it got me, and then it got Amelia, and that's where all the freakin' _problems_ started." He's talking faster than Joey can think. "We thought we could escape it by killing ourselves, but that just made it worse. After we died, we lost our freedom, our personalities, our will to fight back...pretty much everything that made us _us."_

"The Carnival Master said that we could only be free if two others did what we did," whimpers Amelia.

Joey frowns. "Okay, but why are Ro and Manny—"

"It's easier this way." Amelia wipes her tears on her sleeve. "We didn't want any of you to suffer, so we agreed to place the losers under the Leap's spell from the moment they lost. Your friends are at peace. They won't feel any pain. They know that this is how it has to happen."

"Bullshit!" screams Nikita. "You _brainwashed_ them! If they were awake, they wouldn't want to go out like this!"

"You're doing to them what the Carnival Master did to you," Matt spits.

This takes the couple off guard. Amelia bursts into a fresh round of tears, and Robert squeezes her hand before raising his head. "Do you think we don't _know_ that, Matt?" he sighs miserably. "Amelia and I have been trying to hold this off for as long as we can. But tonight is _it._ We can't stop what's started. Someone has to jump."

"Someone..." Matt hitches a breath. He almost loses his grip on Rosanna, but thankfully, hemanages to keep her down. "You said _someone._ You didn't say Ro and Manny."

Robert and Amelia squirm uncomfortably, as if they've said too much.

Calliope's expression is one of doubtful hope. "Do you mean...?"

 _"Save_ them, you dicks!" Nikita shrieks. "If there's a way, then _save_ them!"

Amelia looks to Robert for guidance, and after he gives her a curt nod, she speaks in a murmur. "The only way to release your friends from the Lovers' Leap," she explains, "is if two others choose to jump in their place."

Silence.

Then, before any of the YouTubers can so much as flinch, Calliope lets go of Manny and marches towards the edge. "So it's true." Her voice contains the determined authority of a woman who made up her mind centuries ago. "This town _is_ more than the death it's built upon."

Mortimer is the first to realize what she's doing. "Calliope, no!"

It's too late. The group's beloved helper swan dives over the edge with all the poise, beauty, and grace of an Olympic athlete. Joey can't breathe until she hits the ground, and when his breath returns, it returns in the form of intense, shuddering gasps that feel like he's letting sand into his lungs.

_"Calliope!"_

(Downstairs, one of the signatures on the suicide note transforms itself into Calliope's elegant script.)

 _This is my fault._ Joey has known Calliope for less than nine hours, and yet, for her, tears water his face as a counterpoint to his gasps for autumn air. _She sacrificed herself for us, and I just let her fall._

Amelia begins to fade. She barely has time to say "thank you" before she disappears completely, leaving only her artifact behind.

Seconds later, Rosanna stops struggling. The glazed spirals in her eyes fade into brown, her cheeks regain their rosy color, and her expression shifts from blankness into confusion. "Huh?" She blinks up at her best friend. "Matt? What's going on? What are you doing?"

 _"Ro!"_ The sheer force of Matt's relief is enough for him to yank Rosanna off the ground and into his arms. "You're back! You're okay! You're _alive!"_

As Rosanna returns the hug, she scrunches her nose. "I blacked out...don't know how I...Matt, you're _crying!_ "

"I thought I lost you," is Matt's trembling response.

Joey is so engrossed in watching their reunion that, for a split second, he forgets that they have another friend to worry about. But he's brought back to reality by a cry of "oh god fuck _no_ he's _still_ brainwashed" from Nikita, and he realizes that he accidentally dropped Manny's arm. Despite Nikita and Mortimer's efforts, Manny makes it two steps closer to the edge before Joey regains enough sense to help.

"Amelia's gone," frets Robert to himself, biting his nails. "I can't stay here. I can't leave her alone."

"Can't leave her alone," echoes Manny flatly.

"Fuck her! You can't leave _me_ alone, bitch!" Nikita screams. "Wake the hell up!"

Rosanna lets go of Matt. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"No time to explain." Matt runs to the rest of the group and flings his arms around Manny's waist. "Just help us hold him."

Rosanna does as she's told.

At this point, a grand total of five people are keeping Manny from death, and Joey knows in his heart that they're running out of time. One more person has to follow Calliope off the Lover's Leap. If no one steps up to die for Manny, then Manny will fall. His fate rests on their shoulders.

 _The cycle continues,_ thinks Joey sadly. _Death is all I know._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter _will_ be the last one, I promise!


	6. Dust to Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calliope's sacrifice has saved Rosanna, but Manny's still brainwashed, and the group has to think fast if they don't want him to get a face full of pavement instead of makeup. Whatever shall they do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School's out! Time to finally finish this once and for all.

As Joey's running through the options in his head while simultaneously trying his best to help hold Manny back, Nikita turns to Mortimer with a wildly desperate expression on her face. "You saw what just happened, right, Mortimer? You saw what Calliope—"

"Oh, don't tell me you're about to tell him to kill himself," grumbles Matt.

"No, I was gonna ask...he could sacrifice...Matt, it's _Manny!"_

"Can someone _please_ tell me what's going on?" wails Rosanna, who's clinging to Manny's leg. "Why is Manny acting all weird? Where's Calliope? What about the challenge? Did we lose?"

Robert just keeps muttering "oh, God" over and over.

 _This is impossible._ Joey's arms are getting tired. _Unless somebody does something soon..._

It's right then that somebody _does_ do something. Or, at least, tries to. Mortimer wrenches himself away from Manny and runs towards the edge at full speed...only to be thrown backwards by some mysterious force. He lands with a loud _"Ow!"_ near the entrance to the Lover's Leap.

"Mortimer?" shouts Joey, suddenly befuddled. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Mortimer gets back up and tries again, only for the same exact thing to happen. "It won't let me," he moans morosely, wincing in pain. "Something won't let me."

"Something won't _let_ you?!?" screams Nikita.

Matt's eyes grow wide. "I knew it. I _knew_ that there's something wrong with him."

"Nothing's wrong with me," Mortimer insists. "I'm fine." But he doesn't get up again. Instead, he lies there groggily, and Joey swears he sees the first hints of a red light coming from beneath his leather jacket.

Unfortunately, this means that Manny has one less person holding him back.

He lurches forward suddenly, causing poor Rosanna to lose her grip on him and fall to the ground. Matt, Nikita, and Joey manage to keep holding on, but all three of them are freaking out. Especially Nikita. The Troublemaker is openly crying in front of the whole group for the first time since before the adventure began.

 _This is my fault,_ thinks Joey. _If I hadn't invited them..._

That's when it hits him.

_If it's my fault, shouldn't I be the one to make it right?_

For a moment, he argues with himself. _I can't,_ the part of him that wants to live insist. _If I die here, the secret of the Carnival Master's crystal will die with me. My friends will never be saved._ Then he remembers that he's not the only one in the group who cheated death, and a fully-formed plan pops into his brain. "Matt?"

"What?" grunts Matt, who's currently straining himself in an effort to keep Manny in place.

"The Carnival Master has a crystal in the center of his chest," Joey tells him, his voice shaking. "It can bring them back. _All_ of them. Not just the people who died tonight, but the people who died in the last two tragedies as well. That's why I agreed to come back and save Everlock in the first place. That's why I invited all of you here."

Matt frowns. "Is now _really_ the time to tell me this? Manny's practically dying!"

"You have to finish what I started," Joey pleads. "Save Everlock. Kill the Carnival Master. Bring everyone back with the crystal. Promise me."

"Wait, what are you—"

 _"Promise_ me, Matt!"

The Detective displays a mixture of the five stages of grief on his face as he comprehends what Joey is saying. Finally, his shoulders sag, and his expression softens into reluctant acceptance. "I promise."

Satisfied, Joey lets go of Manny and walks briskly towards the edge of the Lover's Leap.

Nikita's mouth drops open. "What the hell..."

"Joey, _no!"_ Rosanna, who still hasn't been brought up to speed but apparently is able to grasp what Joey's about to do, is back on her feet with terror and tears together in her eyes. "Don't! You _can't!_ We came here to _save_ you, not to watch you die!"

Joey turns to face her. "I'm sorry, Ro," he says quietly. "I'm done letting people take the fall for me."

"Joey, _please—"_

"I love you guys. Tell Manny when he wakes up. Matt, don't forget about the Carnival Master's crystal." Joey's toes are half an inch from the edge. "This is your mission now. It's up to you to make things right."

_"Joey!"_

Joey takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and jumps.

As he falls, he thinks of his friends. He remembers losing Justine, and Lele, and Liza, and Alex, and Safiya, and everyone else who died. He remembers when he finally got to save Matt with the Lazarus Harp, and he remembers how wonderful it felt to have him back. He thinks of all Matt's done for the group, both before and after the Harp, and he smiles at the knowledge that he picked a good successor.

The ground's getting closer. _I love you, Daniel,_ thinks Joey, his boyfriend's face the only thing left in his mind. _If I get a third chance somehow..._

The curse of the Lover's Leap is finally broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this story. Hope you liked it!


End file.
